Content about Indiana

'Bills that say they are about protecting one thing when the real goal is to target and discriminate against LGBT people'

The Indiana State Senate has passed a bill that will permit small businesses to exercise their 'religious liberties'.

Critics of the bill, which was created by Social Conservatives in response to the state's same-sex marriage law being struck down in June 2014, have argued that it would allow small business owners to refuse service to LGBTI people based on their sexuality.

LGBT campaigners fear the bill will allow service providers to legally discriminate against gay customers

Conservative politicians in Indiana are currently putting the final preparations to a bill that they hope will allow small businesses to exercise ‘religious liberties’.

Critics of the bill say that it would, in effect, allow business owners to refuse providing services to LGBT people on the grounds of their religious belief.

Social Conservatives in the State have been working on the bill since a federal judge’s decision in June to allow same-sex marriages to go ahead in the State – a decision later backed by the Supreme Court.

LGBT campaigners fear the bill will allow service providers to legally discriminate against gay customers

Conservative politicians in Indiana are currently putting the final preparations to a bill that they hope will allow small businesses to exercise ‘religious liberties’.

Critics of the bill say that it would, in effect, allow business owners to refuse providing services to LGBT people on the grounds of their religious belief.

Social Conservatives in the State have been working on the bill since a federal judge’s decision in June to allow same-sex marriages to go ahead in the State – a decision later backed by the Supreme Court.

Does two men or two women kissing in public make you uncomfortable? If it does, you're not alone.

While gay rights might be sweeping across the western world, public displays of affection between two people of the same gender still gives people the ick.

A report published by the American Sociological Review suggests while Americans are happy for gay people to have rights, they are less happy to have that gayness shoved down their throats - figuratively speaking.

A court in Charleston County has issued a same-sex couple with a marriage license this morning – despite a state constitutional ban still being in place

The decision by Charleston County Probate Judge Irvin Condon to issue the license follows Monday’s ruling by the US Supreme Court, in which it refused to take up appeals from five states that wish to uphold their bans on same-sex marriage.

Decision comes a day after marriage equality comes to six additional US states

Same-sex weddings in Las Vegas?

It appears to be just a matter of time now that the Ninth District Court of Appeals has struck down gay marriage bans in the states of Nevada and Idaho.

The ruling comes a day after the US Supreme Court opted not to intervene in gay marriage appeals in Utah, Virginia, Oklahoma, Indiana and Wisconsin making same-sex marriage legal in those states. Colorado also began issuing licenses to same-sex marriages this week.

Monday was not a good day for the National Organization for Marriage, one of the most vocal opponents of gay marriage in the US.

The US Supreme Court's decision to pass on reviewing any of the seven same-sex marriage cases submitted to them has resulted in same-sex marriage immediately becoming legal in Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Wisconsin and Indiana on the same day.

In addition, Colorado also announced it would begin issuing marriage licenses state-wide to same-sex couples with five more states likely to soon follow suit.

Thousands of same-sex couples can now marry in Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin

Thousands of gay couples in the United States are now able to marry thanks to a historic Supreme Court decision today (6 October).

The high court turned down same-sex marriage appeals from five states - Indiana, Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia and Wisonsin. Gay marriage is now legal there and couples can begin to get their marriage licenses.

By rejecting the appeals in these cases, the court left intact lower-court rulings that ruled same-sex marriage bans were unconstitutional.

Among those getting married are Oklahoma couple who in 2004 filed suit to overturn state ban

It was back in 2004 that Mary Bishop and Sharon Baldwin sued to get a marriage license in Oklahoma.

On Monday (6 October), they finally got it.

The couple were among the many in several states across the US to were able to obtain marriage licenses shortly after the US Supreme Court let stand the overturning of state marriage bans in Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin and Indiana. Colorado also began to issue licenses.

Veronica Romero and Mayra Yvette Rivera have been together for more than 27 years

The state of Indiana will recognize the marriage of a lesbian couple - one of whom has advanced ovarian cancer.

US District Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen approved an agreement this week (11 September) as the state appeals a ruling that struck down its marriage ban.

Veronica Romero and Mayra Yvette Rivera, a couple for more than 27 years with two children, were legally married in Illinois earlier this year. They filed a suit in federal court this week seeking to have the union recognized in the state in which they live.

Virginia, Utah, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Indiana cases in the running as justices meet on September 29

Justices of the US Supreme Court will meet later this month (29 September) to discuss whether to take on a gay marriages case during its next term which begins in October.

The high court indicated on Wednesday (10 September) that it will meet in a private conference to consider whether to grant review of appeals in cases challenging marriage bans in Virginia, Utah, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Indiana.

'...The only rationale that the states put forth with any conviction – that same-sex couples and their children don’t need marriage because same-sex couples can’t produce children, intended or unintended – is so full of holes that it cannot be taken seriously'

States one judge: 'There was a tradition of not allowing black and whites' to marry. 'It was a tradition. It got swept aside'

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago expressed skepticism over gay marriage bans during oral arguments on cases in in Wisconsin and Indiana on Tuesday (26 August).

One member of the three-judge panel, Judge Richard Posner, hammered Wisconsin attorney Timothy Samuelson with questions seeking justification for why his state denies marriage rights to same-sex couples.

When Samuelson said it is a ban that is rooted in tradition, Posner stated: 'That’s the tradition argument. It’s feeble!'

It was in 2007 that Ohio opened up its Statehouse to wedding ceremonies and receptions allowing couples to rent the atrium, rotunda, porches or plaza.

This week, a 12-member panel voted to retain a policy which bans same-sex couples from taking advantage of this opportunity.

The gay couples are excluded because of a requirement that they have in-state marriage license. That is currently impossible to provide since a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was passed in 2004.